Fairytale mothers and fathers – are books used as rehabilitation tools for children traumatised through events beyond their understanding (ok, for that matter who can claim to understand a bomb blast or even an earthquake)…
This piece in Indian Express says that books provide children with a sense of security (constancy?), companionship and help them know new worlds and possibly remember their own world with happiness…
This combination of books and theatre proved very successfull with traumatised children orphaned during the earthquake in Latur, but can be replicated with traumatised children anywhere.